It is a fact that human beings are creatures of habit. They live a cyclic life in which events are "programmed" to happen at a certain time and in a particular sequence.
Using this basic assumption, the present invention provides a particular method of "humanizing" elevator systems. Since elevators are placed in buildings occupied by people, and people are said to have cyclic life, the present invention provides a way to better serve people occupying a building.
There are two basic factors used in the decision process of the system of the present invention:
I. People live a cyclic life.
When one wakes up in the morning, one usually does so at a predetermined time, every day of the year. After waking up, one follows a sequence of events, such as, taking a shower, eating breakfast, getting into the car, driving the same path to work, going to work, etc. Since people more or less "program" their lives (individually or with the help of the force of society), they tend to do this sequence at a particular time of day, plus or minus (.+-.) a few minutes in a cyclic fashion.
In the particular situation of an elevator system, "cycle" could have two definitions:
I-A) Events that happen daily.
These events are ones that people do every day of the week, with the expectation that they will continue to do so in the future under ordinary circumstances. These events are, e.g., waking up in the morning, eating lunch, driving to work, etc.
I-B) Events that happen weekly.
These events have the same requirements as the daily events, with the only difference being that they only happen weekly. Examples of weekly events are, e.g., a group status meeting every Monday morning, getting a paycheck every Friday, watching a program on TV that airs every Tuesday, etc.
II. People are influenced by societal events.
One's societal activities may be functionally categorized as:
II-A) Functions that one does individually.
These are functions that people need or must do that require their sole participation. In a building, examples of such functions are going to another floor to have a question answered by the personnel department, visiting a friend working on a different floor, walking a visitor down to the lobby, etc.
II-B) Functions that are done in groups.
These functions also can be divided into two different categories:
(II-B-a) Functions that need participation of a group.
This group of functions describes the activities in the building that are done by a group of employees at the same time. Examples of these are project meetings, progress report meetings, product demonstrations, etc. In these activities the presence of a group of people is required at a particular time and at a particular place.
(II-B-b) Functions that are done in a group of people individually.
These functions are performed by people as individual actions but due to circumstances may be observed as group activities. Examples of such activities are going to lunch, coming to work, leaving work to go home etc.